B5.9EH2: Mechanical Engineering Science 8 Part 1: Mechanics of Materials Topic 1: Mechanics of composite materials Sub-topics: 1.1 1.2 1.

3 Strength and modulus of unidirectional continuous fibre reinforced composites Discontinuous fibre composites Simple laminate theory

Text: McCrum, Buckley and Bucknall. Principles of polymer engineering, Oxford ni!ersity Press General efinitions: Matrix: Normally gi en subscript m! this is the bac"ground material into #hich the reinforcement is embedded. Matrices can be metal! ceramic or polymer. $e #ill only consider polymers in this module. Most polymers #hich are reinforced #ith fibres are thermosets %as opposed to thermoplastics&. 'einforcement: (his can be in the form of particles! fla"es or fibres. )ere #e #ill consider only fibre reinforcement! gi en the subscript f. *ibres can be aligned! random! or arranged in stac"s! called laminae. *ibres can be continuous %passing right through the component& or discontinuous %i.e. short fibres&. +on ention for stress and strain axes relati e to fibre direction: ! 1

%.ligned& fibre direction

,f a stress acts along direction 1! the fibres and matrix are strained in parallel and therefore #ill suffer the same axial strain for a gi en stress:

1 = f = m
1

*or continuous fibres! the stress in any section is the #eighted sum %according to olume fraction Vf& of the stresses in fibres and matrix:

1 = V f f + %1 V f & m
1

,f both components are linear elastic:

f =Eff
1

m = Em m
1

.lso! the o erall stress:

1 = E11
(hus:

E1 1 = V f E f f + 1 V f E m m
1

/ut:

1 = f = m
1

So:

E1 = V f E f + 1 V f E m
,f the stress is acting in the 2 direction! the fibres and matrix are in series and can therefore ha e different strain! but must carry the same stress:

2 = f =m
2

,n this case! the total strain can be calculated as the #eighted sum of the strains in the components:

2 = V f f + (1 V f ) m
2

.gain! if the components are linear elastic:

f m 2 =Vf + (1 V f ) E2 Ef Em
2

So:

Vf 1 V f E mV f + %1 V f & E f 1 = + = E2 E f Em Em E f
i.e.

E2 =

Em E f E mV f + %1 V f & E f

0xample: (he follo#ing example utilises the abo e t#o e1uations for E1 and E2! respecti ely. (ry to dra# a graph of E1 and E2 s olume fraction of fibres.

T"e tensile modulus of a t"ermoset polyester matrix is # $Pa and t"at of %&glass reinforcing fi'res is () $Pa. Calculate t"e tensile modulus for t"e composite series *+ f , - to ./ 0"ere t"e fi'res are continuous and a stress is applied in eac" of t"e directions parallel *% ./ and trans!erse *%1/ to t"e fi'res.